Thankful Thursdays // Weeks 4-6

Well, hello there again! How was everyone's Thanksgiving?


So... I'm kinda late, aren't I?

Well, this Thankful Thursdays series didn't go quite as I had planned. I missed a couple weeks in there, and here I am now, posting this on a Friday instead of Thursday. Well... we'll try to make the best of it anyhow.
It's technically supposed to be the last installment (for now) of this series, so let's go out with a great thankful bang, shall we?? (A 'thankful bang'?...Where did that come from?? :P)

So here we are at the end of November already!!! WHAT ON EARTH HAS HAPPENED TO THIS MONTH?!?!
I actually wrote something up for Thanksgiving Day last week that I was going to post, but for some reason I didn't get around to it and actually wasn't quite sure about it and thought maybe it actually wasn't that great of a post, and so I wondered if I should post it at all, but... well here I am, going to share it with you all today. So, this is technically a Thanksgiving post, but here it is anyway. Enjoy. :)

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IT'S THANKSGIVING DAY!!!
How did this happen?!? It honestly seems, to me anyway, too early for Thanksgiving and Christmas to be rolling around again... the year has gone by so quickly! But here it is, nonetheless. And even though it seems to be coming upon us with great rapidity, I'm still REALLY EXCITED!

It seems like though, especially in more recent years, that Thanksgiving has kind of been brushed aside. Well, no, not totally -- most every American still celebrates this holiday -- but it seems like this particular holiday has become less important... at least, not as important as Christmas. This time of year, even before Thanksgiving happens, it's all about Christmas. Thanksgiving seems to just be this extra holiday in between here that is a good day, yes, but not as good as Christmas... I mean, yeah, it's important... but, Christmas is a much more exciting holiday, ya know... so let's just go ahead and decorate for and celebrate Christmas because Christmas is the actual important holiday here of course!

OKAY, OKAY, I am sounding a bit harsh aren't I? I am DEFINITELY NOT saying that Christmas isn't an important holiday. It is! Christmas is wonderful! I enjoy Christmas time SO MUCH!! :D

BUT...

We should remember that Thanksgiving is an important holiday as well! We shouldn't just brush it aside!

And PLEASE PLEASE don't misunderstand me... if you put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, that's absolutely fine! (But, in my opinion, if you're going to do that, you should have some Thanksgiving/Fall decorations up along with them as well... you can decorate for both holidays at once! Just my opinion though, of course. ;) )

But anyway, to get to my real point... I think the reason Thanksgiving isn't as popular with the masses is because, you don't GET anything on Thanksgiving.
Well, I mean, yes, you get a meal, maybe a day off, you get to watch and/or play football, and stuff like that... But, you don't get anything SPECIAL. (At least what the world would consider special) You know -- special things like presents, candy, little gift baskets, chocolate Easter eggs... You usually never get something like that on Thanksgiving. All you get on Thanksgiving is food... and football... and family... I mean... boring, right??

But you know what, that's just it. Thanksgiving isn't supposed to be about getting things. It's about giving. Giving thanks. Thanks-giving. It's a day that's supposed to remind us to not only be looking out for our own interests, but also that of others. It's about being grateful, no matter the situation. We all have something we can be thankful for. Even in the most terrible situation, there's always something to be grateful for -- if only you're willing to look for it.

So this Thanksgiving season, try to find the best in everything and be grateful -- Even if you miss some of the big game on TV, or you accidentally overcook your turkey -- you could be thankful that you even HAVE a TV to watch football on, or have a turkey to eat.

Whenever you're in a complaining mood, I've found that it's quite helpful let your mind wander back to the pilgrims when they first came to America and what they had to endure. They had almost nothing except each other. They actually had to work hard for food, shelter, and protection. Today, we don't have to work too awfully hard for those types of things -- at least, not as hard as they had to. If you really think about it... we have literally nothing to complain about. We're SO BLESSED, guys!

So don't forget to take time to thank God for all the blessings you have in your life this Thanksgiving -- and the rest of the year as well! :)

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And speaking of being thankful... here we are again, my friends. This is what I found to be thankful for these past three weeks (since I missed several weeks before). What about you? :)

Week 4

Friday:

- Our family van

- That our whole family was able to attend a conference this weekend

Saturday:

- Being able to fellowship with other Christians at the conference we attended

- Having a house to come back to

Sunday:

- All the veterans in our country who have risked their lives to keep us safe

- My amazing church family

- That we have a lot of trees around our house that have lost a lot of leaves so that we can make huge leaf piles :D

Monday:

- God's given me the ability to write and come up with good stories

- My mom's encouragement

- My dad's humorous, lighthearted personality

Tuesday:

- Chocolate (I mean, who wouldn't be grateful for chocolate?? ;) )

- My several journal/notebook type books that I have and like to write/draw in

Wednesday:

- That I've been able to have been homeschooled my whole life

- That God's given me such great Christian friends

- That I have great adult friends as well as ones my own age

Thursday:

- My new baby cousin :)

Week 5

Friday:

- Having straight, strong teeth

- Laughter and joy in my life

Saturday:

- Vaseline

- Hot Tea

- Good Books

Sunday:

- That God gives me sweet sleep

- Having heating in our house

Monday:

- Being able to have fun playing board games with my family

- My wonderful parents who have set such a great spiritual example for my siblings and I

- That my parents have had a strong relationship with eachother and each of us

- That I've never had to go through my parents separating/divorcing

Tuesday:

- Getting to spend a fun day over at my grandparents' house cooking and watching Christmas Hallmark movies with my grandma :)

Wednesday:

- A great house to live in

- That tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll get to see and spend time with our extended family

Thursday: (I had quite a few things to be thankful for today... it was Thanksgiving after all! ;) )

- That it's Thanksgiving!

- That we live in a time where vehicles exist and are also heated

- That our extended family gets along well with eachother

- That we had a safe drive down to our uncle and aunt's house today

- That we were blessed with an abundance of food today

- That we got to play football with our cousins

- Hot chocolate and s'mores

Week 6

Friday:

- My bike

- Our TV

- That we have access to on-demand movies and shows

Saturday:

- Having a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, combs and essential things like that available

Sunday:
- That I have nice clothes to wear

Monday:

- Having heat in our house (Did I say that before? Having heat in your house is definitely something to be very grateful for this time of year!)

- A warm bedroom and bed to sleep in

- Having a bedroom all to myself

Tuesday:

- Having good eyesight, hearing, and that all my physical senses work properly

Wednesday:

- That I was born and am living in this specific point in history where life is much easier to survive and live in than in previous times in history

Thursday:

- That God's been so merciful and gracious towards me this year

- That I've had SO MANY wonderful things to be thankful for this Fall!

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Well, there you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I did. I'm sorry that I didn't end up posting every week as I originally had planned, but I think it turned out alright in the end... Thank you all so much for joining me in being thankful this Fall! :) BUT REMEMBER -- don't stop being thankful just because we're past the Thanksgiving and Fall season now. Remember to thank God every day for all the wonderful things He's given you! He's SO GOOD to us!!!

Have a wonderful rest of your week, everyone! :)
~Faith